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Our View: Of deer, driving, and the responsibility we all share

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<p>Conyngham Township Supervisor Ed Whitebread initially resisted when Luzerne County 911 asked his municipality to rename Main Street in the Mocanaqua section following a 2014 fatal fire.</p><p>However, the county&#8217;s more recent requests for address changes &#8212; including a follow-up request to Conyngham Township &#8212; stress that municipalities will assume liability if a problem occurs after they refuse to correct an address issue brought to their attention, officials said.</p><p>Whitebread said that has prompted him to reconsider.</p><p>&#8220;It is a township decision, but they put us on notice that it opens us up to liability,&#8221; Whitebread said. &#8220;It&#8217;s something we&#8217;re considering.&#8221;</p><p>The fire that killed Michelle Ann Dzoch prompted scrutiny because emergency crews had been mistakenly sent to Main Street in Conyngham borough 14 miles away, which has similar address numbers, because the first 911 caller stated the blaze was in the borough.</p><p>Human error and staffing issues were blamed, but the incident helped spark a county council 911 inquiry committee that called for correction of confusing same-named street addresses.</p><p>Whitebread said he had blocked the proposal largely because address changes are a major inconvenience to residents who must make the adjustment on their paperwork, driver&#8217;s licenses and bank checks. He also had questioned why the borough doesn&#8217;t make a change instead.</p><p>He said he has since learned about 50 Main Street addresses would be impacted in the township, compared to more than 200 in the borough.</p><p>Township officials have not yet formally agreed to make the change or settled on a new name and/or address numbers for Main Street because they want to seek ideas from residents, he said.</p><p>Under state protocol, county 911 departments can&#8217;t force municipalities to change addresses.</p><p>County 911 Data/Tech Support Manager Andrew Zahorsky said most municipalities have been open to listening to the department&#8217;s explanation on why it believes changes are warranted.</p><p><strong>Mulling, making changes</strong></p><p>Several other address changes have been implemented in the past year or are under consideration, he said.</p><p>For example, Swoyersville may change Sullivan Street after a borough resident expressed concerns it is being confused with the same-named street in neighboring Forty Fort, Zahorsky said.</p><p>Jenkins Township officials plan to rename Laflin Road to Inkerman Road so it is clear it is not in neighboring Laflin borough, he said. Laflin also may consider switching its portion of Laflin Road to Inkerman Road, which would allow a logical range of non-repeating, low-to-high address numbers over the entire stretch to help emergency responders better pinpoint locations, he said.</p><p>Jenkins and Pittston townships also may consider renaming their sections of Tedrick Street, he said.</p><p>In the county&#8217;s southern end, Sugarloaf Township officials renamed their North and South Main streets to Main Street and instituted new address numbers, he said.</p><p>Before the change, there were three sets of addresses, some duplicated, because the township&#8217;s North and South Main streets connected to Main Street in Conyngham borough, he said. The address numbering that starts in Conyngham now continues rising through the township&#8217;s Main Street, with no repetition, he said.</p><p>The same continuation of numbering also was added to about five blocks of 22nd Street in West Hazleton so there is no conflict with addresses in portions of that street that fall in Hazle Township and Hazleton, he said.</p><p>That change stemmed partly from a West Hazleton resident&#8217;s complaints that his online orders were being delivered to a same-numbered residence on the Hazle Township/Hazleton end of 22nd Street, Zahorsky said.</p><p>&#8220;Now there are no more issues,&#8221; Zahorsky said of that borough stretch.</p><p><strong>GPS factors in</strong></p><p>While getting emergency responders to the correct address is driving the 911 initiative, Zahorsky said the increasing popularity of online shopping and vehicle navigation systems creates another incentive to eliminate address confusion.</p><p>The county&#8217;s high number of municipalities &#8212; 76 &#8212; with many containing duplicate names &#8212; such as Dallas borough and township &#8212; adds to the confusion, Zahorsky has said. Many use mailing addresses that don&#8217;t correspond with their physical municipal location and are unaware of their official municipality boundaries.</p><p>&#8220;People often do not understand municipal lines, and if you have the same street name close by, it adds to the problem,&#8221; Zahorsky said, predicting that the addressing project will continue for many years.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County 911 continues push for address changes