Whitehall-Coplay Press

Wreaths Across America (WAA) has announced that Cedar Hill Memorial Park, Allentown, will once again join the effort as an official location for 2018. This is the seventh year that the cemetery will participate in this national event.

Wreaths Across America started as a simple gesture of thanks that, over the last 10 years, has grown into a national movement of dedicated volunteers and communities coming together not only to remember the nation’s fallen and honor their service, but to teach the next generation about the sacrifices made for freedom.

Joe and Carol Polenchar love getting into the spirit of the holiday season.

Each year, they set up an elaborate musical and light display featuring computer-animated effects at their home at 36 Franklin St., Whitehall. The lights change and move in time with festive music to create an experience for the viewers who come from all around the Lehigh Valley. This year will mark the eighth anniversary of the display, which started as something fun for the Polenchars’ grandchildren and neighbors.

The American Red Cross is providing aid to displaced residents and a GoFundMe account has been created for the family of a man who died in a fire Dec. 7 in Fullerton.

Emergency personnel were called to Spring Ridge Apartments, North 13th Street, about 9:30 p.m. According to a report on the Whitehall Township Bureau of Fire’s Facebook page, police officers were first on the scene and escorted residents from the complex’s J building.

DECEMBER

THURSDAY 13

Whitehall Township Environmental Advisory Council meets 7 p.m. at the township municipal building, 3219 MacArthur Road.

TUESDAY 18

Whitehall Township Zoning Hearing Board meets 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 3219 MacArthur Road.

WEDNESDAY 19

Whitehall Township Planning Commission holds a workshop meeting 6:30 p.m., followed by the regular meeting 7:30 p.m., in the public meeting room of the municipal building, 3219 MacArthur Road.

THURSDAY 20

Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a budget for 2019 that includes no real estate tax increase for the ninth year in a row at its meeting Dec. 10.

The board approved a real estate tax rate of 2.8 mills, which has remained the same since 2011. One mill equals $1 per thousand dollars of value.

The township remains in “good financial shape,” Colleen Gober, township treasurer, told the board.

The township’s $24.2 million general fund includes an $8.4 million balance to begin the year, with $20 million in anticipated revenues.

DEC. 3

Station 36 handled a motor vehicle accident with injuries on Route 22.

A gas leak at 2714 Lehigh St. brought out Stations 36, 37 and 38.

Stations 35 and 37 were on the scene of a motor vehicle accident with injuries on South Lehigh Avenue.

A false alarm at 3355 MacArthur Road brought out Stations 36, 38, 39, 3501 and 3502 (deputy chief).

DEC. 4

Stations 35, 38 and 3501 responded to a motor vehicle accident with injuries at 3119 Seiples Station Road.

Opioids have become one of the area’s largest concerns among teens, and Catasauqua is determined to stop it from getting worse.

Preventive tips and rehabilitation options were discussed with treatment professionals, medical personnel, those in recovery, Catasauqua Area School District faculty and others during an open forum on the heroin and opioid addiction epidemic, held Sept. 27 at Catasauqua High School.

State Rep. Jeanne McNeill, D-133rd, partnered with the school district to present this town hall meeting.