May 2022 eNewsletter | Smithfield Township Municipal Center

Smithfield Township eNewsletter

Township Clean-up for Residents

Bring your unwanted household goods to Smithfield Township Municipal Center. You must provide proof of residency, such as a driver’s license, tax bill, or rent receipt when dropping off.

Items for Disposal:

Acceptable
Furniture, mattresses, toys, washers, dryers, stoves, bicycles, lawn mowers, water heaters, car & truck batteries, nails & screws (in a closed container), electronics (computers, TVs, networking devices, printers, power supplies, computer accessories, wire & cables, computer hardware), cartridges, cell phones/radios, batteries, fire alarms, gas-powered equipment, fax machines, lawn equipment, copiers, typewriters.
*Appliances requiring freon removal are accepted with a $20 fee.

Not Acceptable
Household garbage, automobiles, paint cans with contents, thinners, pesticides, herbicides, liquids, or any other hazardous materials, trailers (campers and others), construction or demolition waste, liquids.
*No liquids are accepted.

ADDITIONAL FEE INFORMATION

Vote

Important deadlines:

Apply for a mail or absentee ballot: 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 10^th
Return mail or absentee ballot: 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 17^th

Mail-in ballot drop-off locations can be found here.
To locate your polling place, click here and visit Pennsylvania Voter Services.

Sample ballots:
Smithfield One
Smithfield Two
Smithfield Three

Your Yard Sale’s Permit

Spring cleaning means it’s yard sale season! Smithfield Township requires that residents have a permit when hosting a yard sale. The applicant must exhibit the permit at the time of the sale in full view of the public at all times. Specifics on timing and directional signage are within the application below.

APPLICATION

The Sky is Falling

By Robert Lovenheim

The numbers on the photo above were added to trees in my backyard by a tree surgeon. They all must come down. Eight ash trees in all, and all of them ready to fall. Last year they still looked healthy but this year I can see big areas of the trunks have been stripped of bark, limbs look scraggly, and the crowns are thin. This is the result of the emerald ash borer that has been killing ash trees across the state. Add the emerald ash borer to the list that includes the gypsy moth, the hemlock woolly adelgid, and the Cooley spruce gall adelgid as insects devastating our forests.

Next time you ride through the Gap on I-80, look up at Mt. Minsi and see all the leafless dead trees. Our forests are dying and there is not much we can do about it. Almost all northern hardwoods are susceptible to invasive insects.

The greater danger is not trees dying, but people dying. Once the emerald ash borers attack an ash tree it has 3-4 years to live. After that it begins falling apart and is a real hazard. Limbs can fall off at any time. If you’ve ever walked a forest path and heard a sudden cracking/crunching of a falling limb you know you are helpless. Do you run forward or back or stay still? There is no way to know in the split second before it falls.

Many Township roads evolved from narrow cart tracks. They have no shoulder. Trees grow right to the roadside. Fawn Road and Mt. Nebo Road are two examples. Both are lined with dying and dead Ash trees that will eventually disintegrate and fall.

Texas Governor George Abbot was jogging in his Houston neighborhood when an Oak tree fell on him. He is now 64 years old and has been in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down, for 38 years.

At the Township we are trying to embark on a program to eliminate dangerous trees. But in our forested environment it is an impossible task and far beyond our financial resources. Besides the dangers these trees pose, is the question of what will replace the vast forests that distinguish the character of Pennsylvania. Will the trees be gone twenty-five years from now? The hillsides, instead, studded with small shrubs. It is impossible to imagine, but it could happen. Meanwhile, be cautious walking forest trails or driving narrow forest roads in high winds and storms.

MORE ABOUT THE EMERALD ASH BORER