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MAY 22-28, 2025
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Looking by Back Ed Pany Dredging the Lehigh River: Part 2 of 3 In this second column we continue to write about dredging for coal in the Lehigh River. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Putt recall the family connection to the Lehigh River. They wrote the following account of their family’s memories on the Lehigh.
Wilson Putt; contributed by the Wilson Putt Family Memories of Wilson D. Putt and Sons Dredging and Trucking Coal reclamation was carried out by Albert Ebersole, of Reading, and Henry Phillips along the Schuylkill River near Shoemakersville. Henry Phillips also ran a dredging operation in Catasauqua and operated a business in
Laurys Station. Albert Ebersole previously worked at Slate Dam. Wilson D. Putt was raised in Reading and was a nephew of Albert Ebersole. He founded and operated the Lehigh River Steam Coal Company at Packer Dam, East Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) around 1930. This operation continued until the 1942 flood. Around that time, he started a dredging operation at the Three Mile Dam near Lockport. Jonathan Reber had a dredging operation at the lower end of the Three Mile Dam. After a while, Reber moved to Parryville. Initially, he had two pump boats, two tugboats and four scows. They started with one dump truck, then acquired another. With the innovation of Wilson Putt, a method of screening the coal from the river took place on the shore. At the washery, the tables vibrated and screened the debris from the coal; water washed the sand and rocks from the coal and after it settled, the debris was removed. After the Clean Waters Act went into effect, the rocks and sand were piled on the property. They had a McCormick tractor with troughs attached and a scraper Continued on page 6
Northampton School Board approves Public library funding and 4% tax increase By SAVANNAH BROWN During the Northampton School Board meeting on Monday, May 12, the board heard presentations from Northampton Area Public Library Director Veronica LaRoche and NASD Business Administrator Craig Neiman, which helped directors make their decisions on public library funding and the district’s 2025-26 final budget. During her presentation, LaRoche explained that the library’s
request of $270,000 from the dis- 12,000 individuals hold library trict is a flat fund, which has been cards. the same requested amount for LaRoche also expressed that the last five years. This amount the library does its best to spend is 52% of the NAPL budget. The as little as possible and tries to rest of the budget comes from save some of its funding to transstate aid ($138,427 or 27%), mu- fer into their emergency fund at nicipalities ($33,734 or 7%), do- the end of the fiscal year for capinations and fundraising ($38,000 tal projects and improvements. or 7%) and other ($36,225 or LaRoche stated that the library 7%). would only be able to sustain Currently, LaRoche stated itself for two years if the board the library serves a population of 43,731 people and around Continued on page 7
Allen Township residents voice Concerns over rodents, fumes, ‘Junkyard’ in neighborhood By KERI LINDENMUTH Residents of Willow Ridge and other neighboring Willowbrook Road communities came out in full force during the May 13 Allen Township Board of Supervisors meeting. Nearly a dozen residents spoke of fumes, noises and garbage coming from a property in the 1400 block of Willowbrook Road. What was once a recycling center, as it was zoned in 1996, has since become a “garbage dump” according to residents. The current property owner bills itself as a garbage pickup and disposal center, something the property is not zoned for. Residents spoke of trucks run-
ning throughout the night and heavy machinery moving piles of garbage from daybreak until late in the evening. Fumes from the machinery have made it so residents said they cannot sit outside their homes or open windows. “It feels like minor earthquakes,” one resident said of the constant machinery noises, to the nods of his neighbors. Another resident has started recording the noise with a meter, which is reaching 80 to 90 decibels. One resident presented photos of garbage blowing from the property, including indus-
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trial trash and mattresses. Some neighboring residences have seen rodents coming from the facility. Supervisor Dale Hassler acknowledged that the fire department was called to a neighboring property because idling trucks at the property emitted so much CO, that it set off a Continued on page 8
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