August has been named Child Support Enforcement Awareness Month in Carbon County.

During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, the board adopted a proclamation that supports the programs in place in the county and state.Commissioner William O'Gurek, thanked Mary Kunkel, director of Carbon County Domestic Relations, and Roberta Brewster, court administrator, for the departments' efforts.The proclamation says, "The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is committed to providing for children, their families and caregivers for emotional, financial and medical support they deserve from their parents, as well as a relationship with both father and mother, and the benefits that come with such a relationship."Child support enforcement professionals, attorneys, advocates and judges are an invaluable resource for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania giving hope and support to children and helping to foster strong families and responsible parenting. County and state child support professionals maintain a high degree of effectiveness and demonstrate a remarkable partnership between state and local government, and the executive and judicial branches of government."The program focuses on families first "to help improve the lives of children," by assisting families through various fatherhood courses that promote "self-sufficiency and personal responsibility."The proclamation continues, "Pennsylvania is the national leader in the Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement Program exceeding all federal performance standards for establishment of support orders and paternity, collections of current support and arrears, and cost effectiveness."That is why, O'Gurek said, Carbon County Commissioners "hereby, recognized August 2011 as Child Support Enforcement Awareness Month in the county of Carbon and encourage all citizens to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities."In other matters, former commissioner Tom Gerhard, addressed the board about the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's decision to spray along the highways.He noted that there are areas where there is dead vegetation 50 to 70 feet away from the highway because of the herbicide spraying the state is doing."It's just a shame," he said. "How can you promote tourism in the county with brown vegetation?"Gerhard said that all plants, including Mountain Laurel, the state plant, that line the state's roads in some areas, have also been sprayed and are now dead.Commissioner Charles Getz, who has spoken out against the spraying in the past, said, he called the director of tourism promotions but nothing got done."He gave me the old song and dance," Getz said, adding that this spraying is also occurring on straight-aways and not just on curves.