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DEP hosting hearing for proposed Coolbaugh warehouse project The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will host a public hearing to take testimony from the public regarding an application by Orchard BJK Company, LLC (Orchard) out of Wyomissing, PA for a Water Obstruction and Encroachment permit for the proposed Pocono Mountains Corporate
Center North Warehouse in Coolbaugh Township. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, December 17, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Tobyhanna Elementary Center, located at 398 Old Route 940, Pocono Pines. Representatives from DEP and the Monroe County Conservation District will be in attendance. See WAREHOUSE, page 3
The gifts from the Giving Tree at St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish are strewn about the church’s narthex as (from left) Dorota Nowak, the parish Giving Tree coordinator, Juli Reese, parish office manager, and Fr. Paschal Mbagwu, parish administrator show delight with the response of the parish to the program.
Spreading the love with the Giving Tree by Fran Odyniec The call went out at all masses in early November that St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish would again participate in the Giving Tree gift program annually sponsored by the Top of the Mountain Ecumenical Council (TOMEC) headquartered at the Five Loaf House in Pocono Pines. And St. Maximilian’s parishioners answered.
A “Giving Tree” was set up in the church’s narthex to attract the attention of worshipers attending the three weekend masses. Instead of traditional tree decorations, 85 index cards with a child’s first name, age (17 or younger), type of clothing and size, gender, and tracking number were tied with ribbon to the tree’s branches. By the Sunday, December 1 deadline, all 85 cards had
been replaced with more than 85 gifts wrapped in a blaze of color, strewn at the foot of the tree and around the narthex. The gifts, each tagged with one of those 85 index cards, were delivered by the parish’s Giving Tree Coordinator Dorota Nowak to the Five Loaf House on Tuesday morning, Dec. 3. The gifts were part of TOMEC’s six-congregation effort to reach 263 children See GIVING TREE, page 2
A ribbon cutting celebrated the grand opening of the Kevin Kendall State Farm Insurance Agency in the Pine Point Plaza on November 13. Shown from left at the official opening sponsored by the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce are Kylie Adams, Catherine Bente, Claudia Morales, Ed Sorton, Kevin Kendall (cutting ribbon), Jennifer Gilbert, Tina Ackerman, Mimma Korte, Susan Miller, John Jefferson, Robert Loughlin, and Jim Smith. Photo by John B. Stoj