40¢
70th Year, Issue No. 35 USPS 248-700
SEPTEMBER 1-7, 2011 A General Circulation Newspaper Serving The Community Since 1942
SERVING BATH, CHAPMAN, NORTHAMPTON, NAZARETH BOROS; ALLEN, E. ALLEN, MOORE, LEHIGH, BUSHKILL, LOWER NAZARETH & UPPER NAZARETH TWPS.
Millionaire wants to build University in E. Allen Twp.
By BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
An unexpected item appeared on the agenda for Thursday night’s meeting of the East Allen Township Board of Supervisors: a request that letters be sent seeking discussion on sewage capacity, sewer/line capacity from Hanover Township and the City of Bethlehem for Eu50-FT. TREE was knocked off by the hurricane winds, four feet clidean University. from its base, and fell within inches of a utility shed in the writer’s The proposed site for this backyard in Moore Township. – Home News photo university, to be developed by a millionaire from New Jersey, is presently two huge corn fields on both sides of Locust Road, about two miles south of Bath between Rt. 512 and Airport Road, adjoining Hanover Township. We asked By BILL HALBFOERSTER East Allen Township so trains Supervisor Mark Schwartz The Home News could go through unheeded. about the university, and he Hurricane Irene caused Power Cut devastating damage from The winds also knocked flooding waters and high out power to thousands of winds all along the East Met-Ed and PPL customers. coast. Fortunately, damages Most power was restored by were light in the Bath area Monday, but some customers over Saturday and Sunday. were left without power for The Monocacy Creek did a longer time. In some cases, By BILL HALBFOERSTER not overflow in Bath, but did only brief outages of electric- The Home News Carol Bear-Heckman has when it reached low-lying ity were noted. areas in the City of BethNo evacuations were re- been a faithful subscriber of lehem. The winds knocked ported in this area, such as Early American Life, a national some trees down, and left along the shorelines of the magazine published in Ohio. tons of debris from branches Atlantic Ocean. TV reports Two years ago she e-mailed and leaves that were torn off showed those areas without the editor, asking if her home, the tree limbs. On Monday, anyone in sight. In this area, built in 1804 by Daniel Stecka railroad crane was used to people stayed indoors to wait el, could be considered for the magazine, steeped in Coremove debris from tracks in out the storm. lonial architecture and wares.
Bath area spared of flooding, But trees down, power out From Hurricane Irene effects
said it’s of Greek origin, and would be privately funded on almost 400 acres of land. It is presently owned by the David Jaindl family. A long process needs to be followed before any construction can begin, and one item is a public hearing by the Supervisors following planning commission review, which is expected in September. On Thursday night, the board set either Nov. 2 or 16 for that hearing. Atty. Jim Broughal requested that the letters for sewage capacity be sent by East Allen, and the Supervisors – Christopher Colitas, Mark Schwartz, Judith Ladonis, and Don Heiny – voted 4-0 to comply with that request. Supervisor Roger Unangst was
absent. We’ve since learned that the proposed university would eventually have a student body of 3,000, and include not just the college buildings, but also a recreational area, commercial space, and college dorms. All of this is the vision of Michael Parlamis, 71, of Tenafly, N.J. He expects to get $5 to $6-million from private investors to help pay for the university, and if zoning and other items needed are finally approved, construction could start by next year. With the 4-0 approval to send the sewage capacity letters, it was evident that the board is warmly in favor of having a college in East Allen Township. It remains to be Continued on page 15
Darrin and Carol Heckman home Cover feature of national magazine She was asked to fill out a form and give her reasons why the home at Northampton & Chestnut St. in Bath should be considered. The return e-mail from editor Jeanmarie Andrews was that they had a long list of homes. But in the fall of 2010, Ms. Andrews called, telling her, “We’d like to use your house.”
As it happened, Carol and her husband Darrin were in the midst of restoring the Joseph Steckel home cattycorner to their home. Ms. Andrews told her, “We’d like to do both.” They were finishing the first floor, and Darrin says, “It put pressure on us to get it done.” Continued on page 7
ENJOYING a glass of wine as they scan the article on their historic home in Bath are Carol and Darrin Heckman. – Home News photo
Daniel Steckel home, built in 1804, is the Heckmans’ residence and is on the National Register of Historic Places. – Home News photo