Pocono Talk

Last weekend we went out and got our Christmas tree at the Farmers Basket in Stroudsburg which is located directly to the left of Ritas Water Ice(which is closed for the season).

Every year since I moved to the Poconos I have gotten my tree from there, initially simply because it was close to where I was living, but even after I moved I still continue to shop there.  I’ve gone back year after year because they are always friendly and helpful, are quick and efficient about netting it, cutting the bottom and putting it on the roof.  I always try to tip the guy a few bucks, I’ve gone on days that it’s icing and snowing and they’re still out there working and happy about it.

If you’ve ever had a problem with a Christmas tree dying early I’d check a few things: where you bought it from, what type of tree, when you bought it and how often you watered it.  So far, knock on wood, I have not had any issues with Christmas trees and I attribute that in large part to where I get my tree and when.

There are plenty of other places to get pre-cut Christmas Trees in the Poconos, but if you’re looking to cut your own tree here is a list of places to check out.

CUT YOUR OWN / CHRISTMAS TREE FARM
All of these are in Lehighton which is about 35 minutes away from Stroudsburg, almost an hour from Mount Pocono, but the closest locations I know of.  Many of the locations below also offer pre-cut trees as well.

Old Homestead Tree Farm
Crystal Spring Tree Farm
Beisel’s Christmas Tree Hill -  A Pennsylvania Evergreen Farm
Hill Farms
Walker’s Tree Farm

In today’s world scandal and gossip seems to travel faster then the speed of light, and good news, well that can be hard to get a hold of sometimes.

Yesterday I received a check in the mail for $420 from my bank, it was an overage from them calculating my taxes because the Homestead Tax Relief Act had kicked in.  Simply put, I finally got my “casino discount”.  If your taxes are not escrowed in(mine are), or are already calculated with this discount(mine were not) then instead of a refund you would just not be paying that money up front.   So next year, I will just pay that much less in taxes and might even get a greater discount depending on how the casino does.

So the question is, did you get a break this year?  Are you eligible?  And why is no one talking about this?!

It all begins with the Mount Airy Casino and Resort which opened up a little over 2 years ago, and although it was surrounded by scandal and controversy, it still was a welcomed addition to the Poconos.  Many of the resorts of the Poconos of the past have shut down, been knocked down, or reinvented in some form.  Mount Airy Casino and Resort was previously Mount Airy Lodge which was 100+ years old, but that’s a story for another day.

With the opening of the casino, and all of the additional revenue that it was now providing for the state I had heard through the grapevine that some of it would be put back into the community in the form of tax relief.

I only live about 10-15 minutes from the casino, in the same township so I was for sure certain that I would be available for some sort of tax break.   So I called the person who I assumed would know the most about it – my tax collector.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:   “Hey I heard that with the casino going in that we should be getting some sort of tax cut”

Woman who answered:  “I haven’t heard anything about that”.

Me: “Are you sure? I know it’s a small cut but I’m almost positive I should get something”

Woman:  “Nope”

So I figured it must have been hearsay, I mean the people who I pay my taxes to would be aware of a tax break right?

A few months passed and I received my tax bill in the mail.  I didn’t see any type of discount so I once again made a call to my tax office and asked them again.  The person who answered again told me they didn’t know anything, after hanging up I decided to call back again and just make sure.  I talked with a different woman who said that I should contact my county assessment office if I want to find anything out.

After a few phone calls I talked with a woman who explained to me that the color of your tax bill shows whether the “Homestead Act” is in effect on your bill.  I am a bit fuzzy on the colors but I think it’s black if it is not in effect and red if it is in effect.  By looking at the color of my tax bill I was able to determine that I was definitely not getting a tax break.  After a few questions(township, school district) she told me that I was indeed eligible for the Homestead Act.  Ok, so what the heck is the homestead act anyway?

The Homestead Act is quite deceiving until you read the fine print, it sounds like something for farming or agriculture or something, but look:

Homestead Tax Relief Act

The Taxpayer Relief Act special session Act 1 of 2006 was signed into law by Governor Rendell on June 27, 2006. Act 1 required each school district to appoint a tax study commission to make a non binding recommendation regarding additional earned income tax or a personal income tax to fund homestead/farmstead exclusions. As part of the 2007 primary election, a referendum question must be approved to levy, assess and collect on earned income tax or a personal income tax to fund the homestead/farmstead exclusions. Act 1 also provides school districts the means to lower property taxes by using the funding that may be provided using gaming revenues.

Ah ha! There it is! Tax relief from the casino, I knew it existed!  Yet I didn’t get a letter, I didn’t get a phone call and I had to get the run around for months regarding this situation, when all along I was eligible for a tax break!!!

The website states that you will receive a letter,  so the question is, did you receive this letter?  I sure as heck didn’t, nor did any of my neighbors or friends I talked to.  I mean it’s essentially free money, you think they’d have billboards up right?  Maybe I got lost in the bunch, who knows, but now you know and maybe you’re eligible too.

2 Things of Importance regarding this:

1) You MUST submit the application prior to March 1st, if not you can submit it but you won’t see that deduction for another year(which is what happened to me the first year).

2) You must actually be eligible.  If you live near the casino you are most likely eligible, but even if you’re not it’s worth a shot to at least ask right?

To apply you simply need to fill out a form and mail it in.  You can get the form on this page:  Homestead Tax Relief Act page where it says “download the application and instructions”.

It seems a bit deceiving and the wording makes it seem like you need to own a farm or something, but that is definitely the form.

I am personally putting that money straight back into the bank to pay for next year’s taxes, even though there was a reduction with the casino there was still a few hundred dollar increase over the previous years taxes as they continue to increase each year.

A few weeks back we were on our way home from a trip up to the Scranton/Carbondale area when we hit a deer.  Fortunately no one was hurt,  except the deer, but we were all were pretty shook up from it and it reminded me just how unpredictable deer, and life, can be.

We were on our way home, it was turning dusk but still plenty light out to see, and there it was,  standing at the side of the road with his buddy.  It might sound like there was a lot of time to avoid it, but in actuality it was only a few seconds between the time we saw the deer and my husband slowed down.  The deer was doing one of those ‘I should go back the other way but I will run into the worst possible part of the road’, he went from ‘at the side of the road with my buddy’ to running directly into the path of my husband swerving out of the way of him.  If he had stayed where he was he would have been just fine.  If he had continued with his buddy into the woods he would have been fine.  But no, he decided to be a literal deer in the headlights and run out into the road, directly into the path of someone swerving and stop and give a stare.

What was the deer thinking?  Or was he not thinking?  Fortunately we were not going that fast, but it was fast enough for mr. deer not to make it.  We hit him pretty much square on, he went flying and after composing ourselves we glanced back and he wasn’t moving. My husband felt horrible for hitting him, but we were both just very relieved that everyone was ok.

Deer in this area are rampant – they eat through your garden in the spring and summer and are not shy about it.  They will come up directly to the front of my house and eat out of the front flower beds without second thought.  In the fall they are all over the roads and make driving, especially at night, extremely dangerous.  They can also be very agressive, my small dog almost got trampled to death this summer when he decided to chase after some fawns and got attacked by an adult deer, I personally didn’t know they could attack like that, they always seem so laid back.

I love nature, I love animals and wildlife, but my encounters with deer this past year have really made me look at them in a different light.  There are so many roads in the Poconos that are windy and dangerous as is, throw a deer in and that’s a recipe for disaster.  We all try to be careful when driving but deer provide that extra element of surprise that really needs to be noted when driving in this area.

If you drove through downtown Stroudsburg at night this week you would notice that the Christmas lights are up on the trees!  I love the “old town” charm of the christmas lights on trees in winter, the flower baskets hanging off the poles in summer, those things that give Stroudsburg that  ’small town’ charm feeling that so many of us long for.

So a heads up – The Friday after Thanksgiving is the annual tree lighting in Courthouse Square in Stroudsburg.  Festivies include Christmas Carols, an appearance by Santa Claus, the Mayor of Stroudsburg lighting the tree.

Looking for that extra special holiday feeling?  Take a ride around town in a horse-drawn carriage!

I sure as heck can’t – stop by the Eastburg Friendly’s this Saturday June 6th from 12pm – 5pm to receive a free single scoop cone or dish.

Yum!

The fourth annual Run for the Red is happening this Sunday so if you’re planning to visit the area be sure to visit PoconoMarathon.org to view the course map to avoid the race path.  Many streets are shut off for periods of time and unless you’re familiar with the area you may find yourself a little lost.

The Pocono Marathon Run for the Red benefits the American Red Cross and all of the profits go back directly into the Pocono community.  They always need volunteers so if you’re looking to help out or give some time be sure to contact them.

From now until “the recession has lessened”, at least for the summer if not the year, after 4pm on Friday’s Cherry Valley Golf Course will be offering free golf.  I heard about this at the business card exchange that they held at their location this month but I would still call to double check the details since I couldn’t seem to find anything in writing.

With times being tough all around, the slogan “if it’s free it’s for me” readily applies so whether you’re a golfer or not, a local or just visiting it’s something you might want to check out.

Last weekend was unusually warm for March in the Poconos (above 60 degrees) and after being holed up inside all winter we were more then ready to get out for some weekend fun.  My son was dying to play outside but the warm weather had caused all the snow to melt making our yard and the local parks one big mudfest.  My husband and I decided some indoor fun might be a better choice and after some thoughts we decided we would see what local factories would be open for the day for tours.  We considered a candle factory, which we’ve visited before, but decided on Callie’s Candy Kitchen and Pretzel Factories which would be both new and yummy.

Located in Mountainhome, PA it was a short trip for us and although it might be a bit of a drive for some it was definitely a fun time.  We visited the Pretzel factory first – having visited the Snyders factory in the past I had invisioned some huge building and wasn’t disappointed but semi-surprised that the pretzel factory was on such a smaller scale.  We walked in and you could see the pretzel making process right there – we went at about 11am so there was no one there but us.  My 5 year old was really excited to see the pretzels enter the oven and kept running around and coming back to see if they had finished cooking(they were slowing cooking on a conveyor belt).

They had a section of “left handed gifts” like a left handed spiral notebook for people like my husband who are always complaining “you right handed people have no idea how difficult it is to write in a spiral notebook”.   They had a large variety of pretzels(of course) both hard and soft and every color & flavor of popcorn that you could imagine (my son got the tutti frutti that is show in the picture).  One of the employees showed us how all of the different pretzels were made – he some dough and made a standard pretzel, their pretzel on a stick, and a funnel cake pretzel.  On our way out we all bought our choice of pretzels – I went with the soft pretzel on a stick(it just looked fun), my son got the funnel cake pretzel, and my husband got a standard soft preztel all of which tasted great.

We headed up the street to Callie’s Candy Kitchen which was about 5 minutes away.  They had your standard variety of candy, chocolate, fudge, holiday candy, etc. but they also had a huge variety of different candies as well.  There was a wall of chocolate molds you could buy (the ones you melt discs into) in probably 100+ varieties – so if you’re looking for a ski boot/skis mold or something for a special occasion like a baptism you’re sure to find it there.  There were premade chocolates from molds in all the current kids characters like spongebob, transformers, hannah montana, etc.

After walking around for a bit we spoke with Mr. Callie who said he would be doing a presentation in a bit.  Callie’s Candy Kitchen was established in 1952 and it’s amazing to see that he still is so passionate about candy all these years later.  Mr. Callie not only explained how the candy and chocolates are made – but about the simplicity of business and marketing.  How many different types of chocolate are there? 1.  How many different types of Ice Cream are there? 1.  It’s Ice Cream…not Ice CreamS.  That all probably makes no sense, but if you sit down with “The Candyman” he will be sure to tell you all about it.

Oh…and there were samples in the store and a bunch after the presentation – needless to say I had my fill by the time we got out of there!  So if you’re looking for an inexpensive(or even free if you don’t buy anything) trip this year be sure to stop by Callie’s – it’s definitely “old school” but unique, true to the Poconos and most importantly yummy!

I recently found out about this program that provides free ski passes for 4th and 5th graders through the Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association Website http://www.skipa.com.  There is a $15 processing fee and requires the purchase of an adult ticket for most resorts as well but it’s a great opportunity if you’re a skier and looking to get your child involved.

You sign up on their website, or can pickup a form at some schools, and after giving required information(including a copy of their report card or other identification) and will be given a booklet that contains  three free lift tickets for participating ski resorts in PA.

You DO NOT need to be a PA resident in order to get the free passes, so even if you live in NY or NJ and are planning a vacation you can still apply.

The tickets are good at the following ski resorts:  Alpine Mountain, Bear Creek Mountain Resort, Big Boulder, Blue Knob Ski Area, Blue Mountain, Camelback Ski Area, Eagle Rock Resort, Elk Mountain, Hidden Valley Resort, Jack Frost Mountain, Liberty Mountain Resort, Mystic Mountain at Nemacolin Woodlands, Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Shawnee Mountain, Ski Big Bear, Ski Denton, Ski Roundtop, Ski Sawmill Family Resort, Sno Mountain, Tussey Mountain Ski Area and Whitetail Mountain Resort

For more information visit www.skipa.com

The politics of it all makes me sick, and I’m not sure what the circumstances were that brought it to this conclusion, but all I can hope is that the animals that would be saved by the shelter (300-500 per month), find good homes.

If you’re looking to adopt, volunteer or drop off an animal please contact one of these other Monroe County Shelters.

Naomi Gauntlett
Animals Can’t Talk Rescue and Adoption
A special adoption event will be held at PetSmart on Feb. 13-15.

Camp Papillon Pet Adoption & Rescue group
www.camppapillon.org
(570) 420-0450

Waggin’ Tales
http://www.waggintailsrescue.com

Pocono Animal Rescue
http://www.poconoanimalrescue.org

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http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090129/NEWS/90129013

The Pa. SPCA board of directors held an emergency meeting this week where it voted to close its Monroe County shelter, according to state Rep. John Siptroth, D-189.

Siptroth said PSPCA chief executive Howard Nelson told him of the decision.

Siptroth, in a phone interview with the Pocono Record, confirmed that the shelter will close as of 4 p.m. today. Any animals remaining will be placed with a local animal rescue group.

“They’re tired of all the outside groups that continue to charge the SPCA with allegations which may or may not be true,” said Siptroth. “I guess they were just so despondent.”

The Pocono Record published an investigative report examining allegations of abuse of authority by the agency in its procedures for seizing animals from individuals, as well as alleged use of a controversial euthanasia method called the heart stick. The coverage prompted the SPCA to have a lawyer send a reproving letter to the newspaper and remove the Pocono Record from its list of news outlets for publicity.

Siptroth said the agency no longer has the “wherewithal” to maintain the shelter here.

No one, to his knowledge, has responded to the agency’s request for proposals to take over management of the shelter. The PSPCA had said it would accept proposals until mid-February.

Siptroth did not know why the process was cut short.

A source familiar with shelter operations said trucks are expected to arrive tomorrow morning to take animals to other shelters. The Monroe shelter has about 15 dogs and 18 cats.

When asked why the public wasn’t given more notice to adopt animals before the closing, Siptroth said, “Who’s going to be there?”
The shelter manager was fired earlier this week but declined to say why when contacted by the Pocono Record.

There are two shelter employees remaining until the facility closes.

“It’s certainly going to leave a significant void in the community, especially for the animals,” said Siptroth.

There is no word yet on what will be done with the property, which is located on Wild Animal Farm Road just off Route 611 south of Stroudsburg.

Animals can still be adopted until 4 p.m. today.

Check back at PoconoRecord.com for more information on this developing story as it becomes available, and read the complete story in Friday’s print version of the Pocono Record.