New York State announces launch of Excelsior Pass Plus

ALBANY, NY — The governor’s office announced the launch of Excelsior Pass Plus last Thursday, August 5. The program enables compatibility between New York State’s Excelsior Pass platform, which has generated 3 million passes and provides digital proof of vaccination or negative test result, and the SMART Health Cards Framework developed by an international consortium called VCI.

New Yorkers will be able to display their Excelsior Pass Plus digital cards at hundreds of businesses and locations that require proof of vaccination, as well as when traveling to entities where SMART Health Cards are accepted. This includes a partnership with VeriFLY by Daon, through which Excelsior Pass Plus users can securely upload their verified COVID-19 vaccination credentials to VeriFLY, and travel through American Airlines to Greece, France, Spain, Italy, and the Bahamas, and on indirect flights to El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, and Puerto Rico. The list will continue to grow, since partnerships facilitating access to more countries are in development.

Fire breaks out at ProJan Professional Cleaning and Restoration

HONESDALE, PA — Last Thursday, August 5, a three-alarm fire broke out at around 1:30 a.m. at ProJan Professional Cleaning and Restoration, a Honesdale-based company specializing in fire, soot/smoke and water restoration, destroying the building entirely. The Equinunk Volunteer Fire Company was first on the scene, and was joined by companies from across Pennsylvania and New York to get the blaze under control.

“Our thoughts are with the ProJan family and we wish you a speedy return,” states a post on the Equinunk Volunteer Fire Company’s Facebook page. “We hate to see a local business devastated by fire.”

Governor Wolf signs 15th opioid disaster declaration

HARRISBURG, PA — On August 4, Governor Tom Wolf signed the 15th renewal of his January 2018 opioid disaster declaration to help the state fight the opioid and heroin epidemic. This opioid disaster declaration will last 21 days or until the General Assembly takes action to extend the declaration by August 26.

This renewal comes in the midst of a spike in overdoses throughout the commonwealth. The preliminary numbers show that there have been 5,063 drug overdose deaths that occurred in 2020 that had been reported as of July 21, 2021. In comparison, Pennsylvania saw 4,458 drug overdose deaths in 2019. The update reveals that 2020 ranks second to 2017, in which there were 5,403 overdose deaths, the most overdose deaths in a single year since the opioid epidemic began. Additional overdose death reports from 2020 are expected to trickle in over the next couple of months.  

“Each of these numbers represent our family members, loved ones, and neighbors,” said Wolf. “They deserve every effort to ensure access to quality treatment and recovery supports to give them the best opportunity to have sustained recovery from substance use disorder.”

UDC grant assists Town of Tusten in comprehensive plan update

NARROWSBURG — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) awarded $9,000 to the Town of Tusten to finalize its two-year update of the town comprehensive plan, recently completed under the 2021 Technical Assistance Grants (TAG) program.

The comprehensive plan includes inventories, summaries of existing conditions, maps, goals and objectives, responsible parties and potential funding sources for topics that include land use, housing and residential areas, transportation, and community services.

On June 9, the revised plan was determined by the National Park Service to substantially conform to the land and water use guidelines of the Upper Delaware River Management Plan, based on review by the UDC’s project review committee and the April 1 full council recommendation. The operations committee approved the payment on July 27.

Hearing scheduled for Honesdale CDBG funding

HONESDALE, PA — Wayne County will host a public hearing on Monday, August 16, at 5:30 p.m., to receive suggestions for projects to be funded by approximately $98,500 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, specifically for the borough of Honesdale. The entitlement grant will be used to meet one of three national objectives: to benefit low-to moderate-income individuals, to help eliminate blight or to meet a particularly urgent need.

Registration for the public comment segment and advanced public comment statements can be emailed to    hdleboro@ptd.net. All emails will be read aloud at the meeting. Written comments should be received by noon on the date of the public hearing; oral comments can be given at the hearing itself.

Applications are being accepted for eligible projects in Wayne County. Interested parties can request an application by contacting Jessica Dreistadt at jdreistadt@hailstoneeconomic or at 484/225-4929 or by visiting https://form.jotform.com/212074469812053. Completed applications are due August 31, 2021.

Sullivan County Probation Department launches Facebook page

MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County’s probation department has launched a Facebook page, designed to keep the local public informed of the activities and accomplishments of this part of the division of emergency management: www.facebook.com/scnyprobation.

“It’s important for people to better understand the role the probation department plays in supervising and rehabilitating convicted offenders, promoting public safety and serving as a community resource,” said probation director Pennie Huber.

“This page will do much more than just display ‘wanted’ posters,” said District 4 legislator Nicholas Salomone Jr., chair of the legislature’s public safety committee. “While the county will welcome people’s help in tracking down absconders, Probation’s Facebook presence will highlight the many facets of department operations, giving taxpayers an in-depth look at how we’re spending their dollars and making our communities safer.”

Wayne County junior livestock sale

HONESDALE, PA — The annual Junior Livestock Sale will be held on Saturday, August 14 at 10 a.m. at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Honesdale.

The auction is in its 30th year, and was started with a handful of animals.

On Saturday, the 2020 and 2021 Nebzydoski-White junior livestock scholarships will be awarded.

The auctions will be both online and in-person. Thirty-four market steers are expected to be auctioned off, plus 199 hogs, 57 lambs, 36 goats and four rabbit pens with three rabbits to a pen. All animals are home-raised by 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) members.

The sale is conducted by the Junior Livestock committee, Lopatofsky Auctions, volunteer local auctioneers and 4-H and FFA members, plus others from the agricultural community.

A free barbecue lunch will be provided to registered bidders.

For more information and online registration and bidding, see the Lopatofsky Auctions website at https://www.lopyauctions.com, or call 570/445-0424. See also letter on page 6.

Wayne County Veterans Affairs warns of phone scam

WAYNE COUNTY, PA — The Wayne County Area Agency on Aging has released a statement warning of a phone scam. Members of the Pennsylvania American Legion have been contacted by a man named Billy Newman, who fishes for information under the guise of being a member of the American Legion. The phone number that was given is 317/967-6675; to report this scam, please call the American Legion at 317/630-1200 or visit its website at www.legion.org/contact.