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NOVEMBER 1-7, 2018
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LT Supervisor Hantz tries to move ball Forward on maintenance building
Mayor Fi with 2018 Little Miss Strawberry.
The winners of the 2018 Bath Halloween Parade • Best Appearing Small- Action Karate • Best Appearing Boy/Girl Cub Scout Cub Pack 43 • Best Appearing Large - HanoverView Animal Hospital • Best Appearing Float- Civic Theatre of Allentown
HanoverView Animal Hospital.
Plenty of costumes and candy At the Bath Firefighters Halloween Parade
by KERI LINDENMUTH Residents of the Borough of Bath lined Main and Chestnut Streets to enjoy a Halloween tradition. The Bath Firefighters Halloween Parade was held on Tuesday, October 23 and was led by the Pennsylvania State Police, the Bethlehem Mounted Police, and Little Miss Strawberry, Nora Yost, sitting alongside Mayor Fiorella Mirabito in a horsedrawn carriage straight out of a fairy tale. The Bath Firefighters showed off their fire engines and invited other local municipalities, like East Allen Township, Bushkill Township, Lehigh Township, and Nazareth to join in. The fire engines showed off their flashing lights, but kept their sirens quiet, much to the appreciation of parents of young children lining the
parade route. The Northampton Area High School Big N Band and Northampton Area Middle School Band both performed, while several floats carrying Moore Township Redhawks led parade goers in cheers. Area businesses, like Hayes Flowers and Bruce Seamless Gutters, showed off extravagant and eerie floats. HanoverView Animal Hospital brought its costumed four-legged friends to the parade. The Shriners also made an appearance, zooming their famous Tin Lizzies around Main Street. Children also got to wave hello to some familiar faces, including Princess Belle, Mr. Fredricksen from Up, and even Santa Clause himself, all ready to welcome in the holiday season.
by JOE KORBA The October 23 Lehigh Township Board of Supervisors meeting opened with a short discussion of the Cherryville intersection in the township. Solicitor David Backenstoe said that he spoke to representatives from Turkey Hill along with their attorney. According to Backenstoe Turkey Hill is going to resubmit a plan for the intersection to the township, get it cleared with zoning and purchase the property adjacent to their existing store and gas station. He said they are willing to install curbing and a sidewalk but are removing the car wash from the plans for their expansion because of logistics issues. The ongoing and sometimes contentious maintenance building was the topic of discussion, once again, for a good portion of the meeting. The project, coming in at an approximate price tag of 4.5 million, is a new building for the borough road crew and office staff. It will allow them to store
equipment indoors and give the workers an area to service their vehicles. Supervisor Keith Hantz, a member of the building committee and an advocate for the plans the committee developed, made a motion to move forward with the design Watkins Architect, Ltd., a firm based in Fleetwood, came up with for the building committee. The board responded with a slew of questions about the design and the building itself. Chairman Daryl Snover was curious if the architect’s fee of 7 percent, which seemed high to him for a simple block building, could be negotiated down. Hantz didn’t think it was feasible to try to get a lower fee. “He [the architect] should come in and explain 7 percent on a rectangle,” Snover said referring to the shape of the proposed building. Snover also expressed reservations about raising taxes because of the need to pay for other expenses like the MS4 unfunded state environmental mandate that was handed to municipalities this year. “It’s not ‘how
are we going to pay for the building,’ but ‘how are we going to pay for the MS4’,” he said. “I guess I was the only one who knew we were going to have to raise taxes,” Hantz replied. Supervisor Cindy Miller wasn’t comfortable without more answers and details from the building committee. “We asked the committee 20 questions and were told that they didn’t know the answers,” she said. “I’m concerned about the lackadaisical attitude this board has towards raising taxes. It is our responsibility to be fiscally responsible for this community,” Miller continued. Hantz’s motion to move forward with the design died because of the lack of someone seconding it. However, a motion made by Supervisor Mike Jones to research securing funding for the building at a locked-in rate was seconded and passed. The next Lehigh Township Supervisors meeting will be on November 13 at 7 p.m. in the municipal building.
Cement worker of the month Ronald Silfies
by ED PANY Mr. Ronald Silfies was born in Chapman Quarry, graduating from Northampton High School and Vo-Tech in 1972. He recalls, “I had good teachers at both schools, at tech I completed the Drafting Blue Print class.” Ron was hired at Keystone in 1974 by manager Steve Hayden Sr. to work on the labor gang at a rate of $4.10 an hour. His grandfather and father were also Keystone employees. Always interested in electricity, he joined the electrical department saying, “Both my supervisor Normal Clauser and Harold Newton shared their vast electrical knowledge with me. When a new kiln was added many years ago, Mr. Clauser slept at the plant for two weeks until the job was completed.” “There has been tremendous changes in the electrical equipment over the years. Large control cabinets have been replaced by computer control systems. Various
Ronald Silfies of Keystone Cement.
monitors aid in solving problems in a more rapid manner.” Today, Mr. Silfies works with a nine-member team supervised by Herb Heimbach. The members are all classified as electronic technicians. Mr. Silfies said, “There is always a new adventure, new problems and challenges; each work day is different. Our team works together and supports each other when problems arise.” Presently, Ron works on environmental instrumentation.
This requires exacting standards in order to pass all government regulations. He has climbed the tall plant stack on many occasions Continued on page 2
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