LH City Council Highlights: Skunks, Street Closures, and Nativity Scene Controversy
By Emily Wright
LOCK HAVEN— The Lock Haven City Council members heard from members of the community at its regular meeting on Monday night regarding a propagation permit to breed skunks, the status of street closure requests in downtown Lock Haven, and a last-minute change to an already approved Nativity scene that was to be displayed at Triangle Park in downtown.
Picking up on a topic that’s been a highlight of recent council meetings was Shaun Dale, owner of The Old Corner Gill & Bottle Shop, regarding street closures in downtown Lock Haven for the purpose of hosting live music and other events.
At the previous City Council meeting on November 4, 2024, the council discussed updating the street closure policy. Kasey Dumm, the Director of Community Life, suggested using policies from other municipalities as examples to create a new policy for downtown Lock Haven. One such example came from the Borough of Millvale, PA. However, local business owners, including Dale, who were interested in requesting street closures, were not informed about this specific policy or given a copy to review and provide feedback.
During the November 4 meeting, the council discussed various changes to the city’s policy for street closures and heard from local business owners Vincent Kishbaugh, Nick Hawrylchak, Gail Nestlerode, and Shaun Dale. On a motion made by Council Member Brannan, seconded by Dr. Brinker, and carried unanimously, the council agreed to create a more formal policy based partially on the Millvale policy to be considered during the November 18 meeting.
The Millvale policy stipulates, “No street shall be closed more than once in a thirty-day period,” which became a topic of discussion during Monday night’s meeting. Council members discussed changing that to limit closures to no more than twice per 30-day period per entity and setting appropriate fees to cover the city’s costs for required street barricades and additional trash cans.
Dale asked for an update on the status of accepting street closure applications, as his earlier request to close Grove Street every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day 2025 had been denied. Looking for a compromise, Dale proposed closing Grove Street every other weekend during that period instead. Mayor Joel Long confirmed that the city was developing a new street closure policy based on the Millvale policy and informed him that he could submit his request with the understanding that the city may change the policy. With this information, Dale submitted his request at the meeting on Monday night.
Next to address the council was Gilbert Stull, PA State Constable for Lock Haven’s First Ward. Stull asked the city council for a letter authorizing him to obtain a permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to breed his pet skunks. Although he legally owns the skunks, he needs the city’s approval to begin breeding. “You guys are going to laugh at this because I guarantee you’ve never been asked this before,” Stull joked as he began his remarks.
Stull explained that, according to Pennsylvania law, he is allowed to breed his pet skunks. However, he can’t even give one away to a friend without securing a propagation permit from the PA Game Commission.
He had spoken with the Game Commission, which informed him that he needed a letter from the City Council to proceed with obtaining the propagation permit. In response, City Manager Greg Wilson asked Stull to provide his information so it could be reviewed by the city solicitor to determine if the council had the authority to issue such a letter. Stull also mentioned that, if permitted to breed his skunks, he would like to donate a portion of the proceeds to the county’s 9-1-1 center.
The final speaker to address the council was Pastor Joyce Bucknor of The Kingdom of Life Ministries. She expressed concern over a group of community members who had originally been granted permission to display a Nativity scene in Triangle Park in Lock Haven for the Christmas season but were informed at the last minute that they could not proceed. Bucknor pointed out that these community members had invested a substantial amount of money—$10,000 in total—into the project, believing it would be an annual display based on prior discussions with Downtown Lock Haven (DLH) Inc. However, as of Monday, November 18, Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. had already started decorating Triangle Park, disregarding the previously approved Nativity scene and leaving no space for it.
“We found out [in the] afternoon on Friday,” Bucknor said. “We were going to present this and let you guys know this ahead of time, but we weren’t even told until afternoon, and they started putting the stuff up already. They didn’t even let us know, so we weren’t aware of what was going on, not at all, that the whole project was changed,” Bucknor emphasized.
“During the winter of 2023, we were granted permission to have a nativity set at Triangle Park, and now we’ve been told at the last minute, when we were ready to set it up, that it would no longer be acceptable to be placed at the city’s Triangle Park,” Bucknor said. “We are quite concerned about that because, like I said, the community put out a very large amount of money to have it, and we were assuming when we had a meeting with the Downtown Lock Haven Inc. director at that time, that this was something that would be continual because of the cost of the project, and now we are not allowed to put it there.”
Council Member Dr. Jeffrey Brinker provided additional context, explaining that the nativity scene was a collaborative effort between the community and DLH the previous year; however, with changes in DLH management and a change in the vision for Christmas decorations at the park, they decided to move the nativity scene to a different location without notifying the members of the community who had contributed funds to the Nativity.
“You’re talking about the organization Downtown Lock Haven,” Council Member Masorti pointed out before mentioning that the director of the organization does not work for the city. Bucknor replied, “It was approved, but the park is a city park.” Masorti confirmed that the park is a city-owned property and asserted, “You need to come to us with your request.”
City Manager Greg Wilson chimed in, stating, “No, not exactly. Council gave permission to Downtown [Lock Haven] to decorate for Christmas. Now, you certainly had permission from Kira, but just looking at the other side, they may not have known that because Kira isn’t there anymore. They have a new manager, so I don’t want people to think the manager withheld that information. She may not have known anything about it.”
Pastor Bucknor emphasized that several attempts to reach the new manager were unsuccessful and pointed out the city’s deadline, which requires requests to use city-owned property be submitted by Friday. “Once again, when we tried to get ahold of them, the information was held back until after that noon-time space that we could’ve let you guys know,” Bucknor said before she questioned why the group wasn’t notified that the nativity scene would not be allowed. Wilson asserted that that is a question for DLH. “I know, but we approached them, and they haven’t gotten back to us. It’s the city’s park,” Bucknor reemphasized.
Dr. Brinker noted during the discussion that DLH Inc. was aware that there was a large Nativity scene that had been planned in 2023, but they moved the location of it because it didn’t “fit their vision this year,” and added, “This was a decision that was made on Friday between nine and one o’clock.”
“It’s a part of downtown. Did you ask them, though?” Council Member Stevenson questioned Pastor Bucknor. In response, Bucknor stated that DLH suggested the nativity set be placed at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
“As you know, that piece of grass is much too small for that. It’s basically built for Triangle Park; the pieces are life-size, and like I said, the community spent over $10,000 on this thing, so we’re not talking about just one individual church. This is a combination of a lot of people putting a lot of money into this project,” Bucknor emphasized.
Dr. Brinker, providing context, explained that in a collaborative effort between the community and DLH, the former DLH manager had planned to raise money to have a Nativity scene, but several churches came together across Clinton County and said they would take care of the expense. “It became a community church thing a year ago, with the understanding that that was going to take place year after year,” he said. “As everybody knows, management has changed in Downtown Inc, the vision has changed in Downtown Inc, and we can’t control Downtown Inc.,” he said. “This year, it’s at St. Paul’s, and then next year, the vision is to turn Fallon Alley into a winter wonderland and put the Nativity scene in the alley, so as you can see, the community members are a little distraught that their investment went from Triangle Park, off to the side, and now into an alley, which would be uncovered, unprotected, and unseen.”
Dr. Brinker later added, “I guess the underlying question is, if Downtown Inc. isn’t going to include it and they’re going to put it in two different locations for the next two years because that’s not the new vision, is the community of Lock Haven and us as council, going to be willing to stand with all of the different churches in the area that invested heavily into a manger scene to be put on Triangle Park as they wished?”
Council Member Stevenson suggested a compromise. “I think this year, we should share the park with the Nativity scene and Downtown and try to get them to collaborate this year,” he said. “My opinion is they should apply and we’ll co-share the park this year and next year is a different story. Maybe Downtown would welcome them in, and we can work something out between them, but we should authorize them at least to apply so they can get through the next two weeks before the season gets here.”
Council Member Barbara Masorti asserted that the council can’t speak for DLH, as they are a separate organization, despite Triangle Park being city-owned property under the City’s jurisdiction.
To close the discussion, Mayor Joel Long suggested a request be made to the city. “Nothing can be done tonight, so make the request. Obviously, Downtown Lock Haven should be notified of that, and if they have some type of issue with that, they can come to a meeting, and we can give feedback from all directions.”
