TRR photo by Charlie Buterbaugh The Lackawaxen River flooded Joan Searle’s house in Rowland, PA on April 3.

Wallenpaupack spill draws criticism of PPL

Corporation to change its communications procedure

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

ROWLAND, PA—It was 7:00 a.m. on April 3 when the firemen knocked on Joan Searle’s door. She had been up all night, keeping watch over the ankle-deep water in her kitchen and weather forecasts online.

The Lackawaxen River, which runs behind the house that’s been in Searle’s family since 1928, had already overcome the deck she rebuilt after last year’s flood on September 18. The river was slapping against the first-floor windowsills.

The firemen told her PPL had opened its emergency floodgates at the Lake Wallenpaupack dam. The Lackawaxen—fed by Wallenpaupack Creek—would continue rising, possibly six more feet.

“It was horrible. We couldn’t warn people because they [PPL] didn’t warn us,” Searle said.

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Dreams dashed with Sullivan West closings

By KIMBERLY M. Weyandt

NARROWSBURG, NY—When it looked like her children might slip through the cracks, one woman found sanctuary in Narrowsburg only to find out a year later that it may have just been a mirage.

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‘The Enforcer’ takes up the pastoral staff

Local clergy and laity react to Benedict XVI

By TOM KANE

Three out of four American Catholics are “enthusiastic” about the elevation of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy, according to a Washington Post/ABC poll taken April 21 to 24. The same poll showed that U.S. Catholics are split down the middle with regard to the issue of change, with half wanting the church to keep to tradition and half hoping that it will adapt to modern ways.

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Other stories in this issue:

• Help residents make the county beautiful
• New Human Rights Commission sworn
• PennDOT performance peeves Pike
• Lackawaxen ponders new plan
• Townhouses will offer alternatives to workforce
• Route 97 crash injures two seriously
• Town blames FEMA for flood bind
• Empire Zone funding low wages
• Development agencies scuffle over program funds

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S