Down River 6/24

By John Lipez

Getting There:

This transition from spring to summer has been a lot more enjoyable in 2021 than it was in 2020. We can’t proclaim victory over COVID-19, but the numbers continue to go in the right direction.

As a result, our long-sought “normalcy” gets closer every week. June 2021 will be in the books in less than a week and this year’s edition has been a lot more fun than the 2020 version. It was Down River just a year ago where Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding was noted for her comments that our county had been “super fortunate” at that time with not being inundated with COVID cases. But as Down River pointed out at the time, there were no guarantees. And the county, the state, the nation, the world were not “super fortunate” for a good while.

But let’s not look back; let’s look where we are. This June 2021 has been pretty good: high school commencements held just like in the old days; high school sports, specifically Central Moutain baseball, with a great June run; the Car Cruise in Bellefonte; Heritage Days in Renovo. A lot of wonderful community events, perhaps previously taken for granted, have been making a comeback this month.

The month will finish on a high note. Lock Haven’s summer concert series getting started this weekend, highlighted by an appearance by the always popular Lindy Sister at the special Grove Street/Main Street stage as part of this Friday’s pedestrian mall set-up in the downtown.

Keystone Little League baseball, a perennial summertime occurrence in Clinton County, is back after a pandemic-caused shutdown in 2020. And Renovo is getting into the act with its summer concert series too; all good stuff we missed a year ago.

Given what the county went through over the last 15 months or so, it came through relatively unscathed, don’t you think? A query was sent to Mike Flanagan, longtime head of the Clinton County Economic Partnership, on his thoughts as to how the local economy absorbed the difficulties of the past year-plus. He offered up this: “Clinton County manufacturers seemed to do well during the pandemic, and it started when most, if not all of them, were deemed essential and did not have to shutdown to begin with back in late March 2020. The hospitality and restaurant sectors, like in other areas, took the biggest hit and continue to try and bounce back. Many of our local employers have help-wanted signs, and that might be for a couple of reasons. But overall, it appears that the county did as well as could be expected through the pandemic and we hope the upward climb continues for those that were hit the hardest.”

Again, it’s time to look forward, enjoy the concerts, enjoy the outdoors, the Sentimental Journey to Cub Haven, Millbrook Playhouse and so much more. We’re on the road back; it just took a little longer than we might have hoped a year ago at this time.
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North Bend and North Philly:

What, might you think, do Chapman Township and Philadelphia have in common?

These two municipalities are coming at it from a different direction, so to speak, but both are dealing with ATVs.
In Chapman Township, we’re well aware, the supervisors are grappling with a proposal to allow the use of ATVs on certain North Bend streets and environs. The hope is such legalization will be a springboard to tourism dollars, such as in West Virginia where ATV trails abound with ATVs lugging their riders and their dollar-laden wallets through the mountains and gulches of our neighbors to the southwest.

We’re also aware that the township fathers have put off a decision until later this year, given that township roads are busy enough currently, what with the natural gas pipe-liners going to and fro on an almost daily basis.

As a result Chapman Township and its residents get a reprieve until November or December over an issue that has divided folks.

In Philly it’s a different story. Philadelphia government has moved to crack down on illegal ATVs and dirt bikes currently traveling throughout the City of Brotherly Love. Council there recently passed a new measure in response to complaints from residents upset with the machines, the riders and the noise they generate.

On one recent Saturday Philadelphia police estimate a train of 500-plus ATVs, dirt bikes and other motorized vehicles “meandering” through parts of the city. A Philly council member said constituents from every neighborhood have complained, but police there have a policy of not chasing the illegal vehicles. Current law carries a $2,000 fine for those caught. Authorities also noted a large presence of ATVs and dirt bikes at the site of a recent fatal shooting.

A story on Philly.com said Philadelphia is not alone with its concerns; others are San Jose, Atlanta and Baltimore. Council members in Philly say they’re looking for other options, including a designated park.

No one here is suggesting ATV riders might one day be traveling up the Northeast extension of the Turnpike, hang a left onto Interstate 80 at the Wawa there and end up going by Mark’s Auto on Schoolhouse Road in North Bend.

But you allow ATVs on your township roads, there are no guarantees just who all will respond; Chapman Townships folks have to hope the operators are more West Virginia-like and less North Philly-like.