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I facetiously call the area in which I live – Upper Mount Bethel Township – “Bugtussle”, after the fictional town from which the Clampett family hailed on “The Beverly Hillbillies”

Let me say that is meant as absolutely no disrespect to the amazingly nice people who live here, and more as a “heading off at the pass” of lame jokes from my friends who can’t believe I moved here.  I love where I live.  I have wonderful friends here, and the local neighbors (including those in the surrounding towns of Portland and Bangor) have been, well, down-right neighborly and I wouldn’t change a thing.

OK, I lied. 

See the screen shot of Upper Mount Bethel Township’s “official” website as of today, 11.5.12?

See the date it was last updated?  Monday – October 29^th.

See the screen shot of the only even remotely “official” Facebook page I could find for Upper Mount Bethel Township?  As you can see, it’s a “like-only” page with no activity on it.

In contrast, see Easton’s official webpage – the Hurricane Sandy Update Page, which is a TEN page .pdf file.

Sal Panto, the mayor of Easton, has a personal Facebook page – www.facebook.comSal.Panto.  Sal posted updates on his Facebook page.  About eleventy billion of them, to be (not exactly) exact.  Sal was like Waldo – he was every-farkin’-where in Easton.  There were updates about where electric crews were and weren’t working.  Updates about where you could get a scarf from the “Chase the Chill” scarf bombing.  Updates about what gas stations were open, what eateries were open, where senior/young/every other demographic citizen could find shelter, charging facilities for electronics, hot food – you name it.   Sal even answered questions about OTHER municipalities for which, one would assume, people are paid good money to answer these questions that Sal answered.

I know a lot of people dislike Sal Panto, for varied reasons that I will not go into here.  I get that.  He’s a politician – if he wanted a cushy, worry-free life, he’d retire to Florida and hold his wife’s purse while she shops at Chico’s at the Town Centre at Boca Raton. 

My point here (and I do have one) is that Sal was visible.  A representative for the city of Easton took advantage of the social media available to him and used it.  I don’t have a Smart phone or an iPhone or anything.  I have a dopey old Pantech something or other through which I can access the intarwebs.  And to further add insult to injury, my provider is AT&T, whose performance during this mess has been less than stellar.  But the fact remains that when I could use my phone, I found this type of interaction and information from the poobahs of Upper Mount Bethel Township:

(chirp) (chirp) (chirp) (chirp)

(that's my impersonation of a cricket)

Nada.  Zilch.  Zero.  Nyet.  Non.  Nothin’.    Do you know where I got my local information?  From the incredibly hospitable folks down at the Mt Bethel Diner (that is, as soon as it had power and opened), as well as the good people at the Mt Bethel Fire Department, who opened the station up for the folks who needed hot coffee and information.

Today is Monday, the 5^th of November, and according to MetEd’s website, 638 people in Mt Bethel are still without power (and in full disclosure, I am one of them), yet there’s no update or notice or anything on the “official” Upper Mount Bethel Township website noted above.

To be fair, I checked the following websites:

Lower Mount Bethel - there’s a spiffy photo of the township building, but zippo about information pertinent to the storm and its duration and aftermath.

East Bangor Borough – generic “winter storm” information, but again, bupkiss about Sandy.

Columbia Fire Department – Roseto, PA – information about the “Gun-A-Day” raffle ticket

Roseto PA Facebook page – does have some Hurricane Sandy information

I realize that this is a rural, agricultural community.  That’s part of the reason I live here.  But it is 2012, and farmers and others rely more and more on technology to run their farms successfully, as well as keep up with local, national and international news.  The fact that Easton recognizes the value of social media should resonate with the Slate Belt. 

The officials of Upper Mount Bethel Township need to seriously investigate the minimal expense and effort it would take to have a functional, INTERACTIVE, regularly updated Facebook page, website and (dare I suggest it) Twitter account.  I am not suggesting that they have the power to light a fire (heh) under MetEd or whatever mega corporate entity needs to get on the ball, but just letting people know that you are out there…trying to keep us informed…is within the scope, budget and  yes, obligation of local government.

It’s time to join Sal Panto in Easton, and the incredible Tom Coombe (who was reporting tirelessly during the entire mess) at the Easton Patch.com in the 21^st century.  (but please don’t change anything else – I really do adore where I live)