Safety During Halloween

Another Safety Alert from Bellevue Borough. Continue reading how Mt. Lebanon handles safety during Halloween.

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Friday October 28, 2016, 1:49 PM Bellevue Borough     Community: Safety During Halloween Celebrations Dear Elaine Gillen, Health Department Urges Safety During Halloween Celebrations PITTSBURGH – The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) is urging the public to be aware of pedestrian safety as the Halloween season approaches. Pedestrians and motorists who will be celebrating, should practice safety precautions. Under Pennsylvania state law, motorists are required to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. “Drivers should drive slowly, anticipate heavy pedestrian traffic and turn their headlights on earlier in the day to spot children from greater distances,” said Gwen Missouri, Coordinator of the Health Department’s Traffic Safety Education Project. “Popular trick-or-treat hours are from 5:30pm - 9:30pm, so drivers need to be especially alert for kids and eliminate any distractions inside your car so you can concentrate on the road and your surroundings.” Here are some helpful tips that you can use: · Encourage chil dren to decorate their costumes and bags with reflective tape or stickers. · Have kids can carry glow sticks or flash lights to help them see and to be seen by drivers. · Select a costume for your child that is the correct size and length to prevent trips and falls. · Avoid having children under the age of 12 be trick-or-treat alone at night without adult supervision. If kids are mature enough to be without supervision, make sure they know to stick to familiar well-lit areas in groups. · Be alert and slow down when driving in residential neighborhoods, because children are excited on Halloween and may move in unpredictable ways. · Remind children to enter and exit driveways and alleys slowly and carefully. According to PennDOT data, last year in Allegheny County, there were 375 crashes involving pedestrians. The majority of these crashes were a result of aggressive and distracted driving behav iors. The law states that vehicles shall yield the right of way to pedestrians in a marked or unmarked crosswalk. If convicted of violating this law, the penalties include a $50 fine and 2 points on your license. Motorists are encouraged to obey this law in order to prevent potentially devastating incidents and penalties from citations. The Allegheny County Health Department Traffic Safety Education Project offers pedestrians safety education for all occasions within the “Road Rules” presentation which is available to elementary aged students in Allegheny, Beaver, and Lawrence Counties. To schedule a presentation, contact Nicole Barnett at 412-247-7962 or by visiting www.achd.net/injury .For full details, view this message on the web.

Here is my email exchange with Mt. Lebanon's public officials.

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
Sent: Thu, Oct 27, 2016 11:49 pm
Subject: Halloween

Commissioners,

As I normally do, I copied Keith McGill since you are having him answer your constituents' emails. Perhaps you should consider sharing your stipends with him, since he is doing part of your jobs.

I am sending you a link to my email exchange with you folks last year concerning hunting on Halloween. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9r_1biKte_bZXZ0N1QyRlVWcTQ/view?usp=sharing

Will you be doing this again this year since Halloween falls on a Monday, and archery will be taking place on public and private properties? Please let me know how you plan to handle hunting on Halloween this year.

I am also sending you an email exchange from last year when Susan Morgans said that she would be worried about hunting on Halloween -- if she were a witch.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9r_1biKte_bdDBJVVlTVEN6M2s/view?usp=sharing

If worrying about hunting on Halloween and children's safety makes me a witch, then so be it.

Elaine Gillen

I heard back from Keith McGill.

From: Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>
Sent: Fri, Oct 28, 2016 8:14 am
Subject: Re: Halloween

Good morning Elaine,

Archers participating in the municipal program will not be hunting on Halloween.

Keith

Hunting on Halloween UPDATED 4X

At the August 15th private property recruiting meeting, I raised my concerns about hunting on Halloween. Since hunting is permitted in Mt. Lebanon until thirty minutes after sunset, hunters can hunt up to 6:48 PM this Saturday. I was laughed at, when I mentioned it.

	NEXTpittsburgh (@NEXTpittsburgh)
10/28/15, 9:08 PM Costumes of the night at the @MattressFactory @YelpPittsburgh monster bash go to Mt. Lebanon's Betsy's Ice Cream. pic.twitter.com/fUMgDag1EY

NEXTpittsburgh (@NEXTpittsburgh)

10/28/15, 9:08 PM

Costumes of the night at the @MattressFactory @YelpPittsburgh monster bash go to Mt. Lebanon's Betsy's Ice Cream. pic.twitter.com/fUMgDag1EY

Commission president John Bendel claims that Jody Maddock's hunters have been told that they are not to hunt on Halloween. That's terrific, John, but Jody Maddock's hunters are outnumbered. Have there been any LeboALERTS announcing that there is to be no hunting on Halloween? No. The only restriction that I am aware of is "No Block Parties on Halloween," (except...uh...Roycroft and Sleepy Hollow.)

Update October 29, 2015 10:33 PM No mention of private hunters.

From: jbendel
To: egillen476 
Cc: commission ; philip.weis ; kmcgill ; alauth 
Subject: Re: Halloween 
Date: Thu, Oct 29, 2015 10:16 pm 

Elaine, 

Keith McGill contacted White Buffalo to remind them that there is no hunting on Halloween.

Update October 30, 2015 12:57 PM My email:


Commissioners, School Board Directors, Mr. McGill, Dr. Steinhauer, Chief Lauth, Rep. Miller, and Solicitor Weis,

I have been getting phone calls from people who were crying and emails such as the one below about Trick or Treating tomorrow.

These hunters are everywhere. This is even worse than I thought - how many private hunters are there in addition to the 6-10 White Buffalo guys? These poor deer.


there are tons of pickup trucks (one is parked practically in front of my house now) - he must be eating at the Subway (I hope and not hunting on Academy). There is a tree stand in the bed of his truck.


These trucks are all big, like Nissan's or Silverado's. I saw several this morning. Just saw a beat up one pulling out of the ball field area - the guy was in Camo and had a dog in the truck with him.


I see them at the Dollar General in the morning and at dusk, and then out and about. They are easy to spot.

As you can see by my earlier correspondence with the commission, I have concerns with the private hunting that will be going on tomorrow during Halloween. I believe that President Bendel was intentionally ambiguous concerning my concerns about private hunters since the commission has no control of the archery program.

Since there will be no action by the commission, I am begging the school district to issue a warning to parents about this dangerous situation.

Our primary concern should be about the safety of our children. Please, Dr, Steinhauer, step up and do the right thing. Send a letter to parents.

Thank you.

Elaine Gillen

Update October 30, 2015 4:48 PM Not one of them responded. Instead this LeboALERT came out at 3:00 PM. Let's pretend there aren't any hunters out there. Unbelievable.

This is an important notice from LeboALERT.

Trick or Treat is tomorrow
night from 6-8 pm. Police will be vigilant, but please be extra careful while
walking and crossing streets. Have
fun!

Update October 31, 2015 12:37 PM I never heard back from Dr. Steinhauer or any of the other eighteen people. I guess Student Safety is not one of Timmy's goals. I checked the Superintendent Goals for 2015-2016, and sure enough, nothing is mentioned about student safety. Saved in Google Docs Silly me, I thought that Student Safety would be Timmy's Number 1 Priority. Evidently, it isn't important to our school board directors either.